NETHERLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Alan Littler, Justin Franssen and Chris Adriaansz, Franssen Tolboom
The fee for non-incidental charity lottery licences, with prizes totalling more than EUR4,500, stands at EUR28,000. Remote gambling licences are subject to a non- refundable licence application fee of EUR48,000. 4.9 Ongoing Annual Fees As described in 4.8 Application Fees , the exploita- tion licence for slot machines is subject to an annual gambling levy of EUR136 per player seat. Remote gambling licence holders must pay a levy of 1.95% of gross gaming revenue (GGR) and entry fee/ commission in order to cover two things: • a designated 1.7% of GGR/entry fee/commission covers the annual costs associated with the NGA’s performance of its tasks; and • the remaining 0.25% covers costs associated with the addiction prevention fund. A similar levy applies to lotteries (both incidental and non-incidental) with GGR above EUR1 million. The levy is applied progressively, in four brackets, on the The Dutch regulatory framework does not require any type of personal licence or authorisation. As indicated in 4.6 Application Requirements and 10. Acquisitions and Changes of Control , the regulatory framework contains a strict reliability assessment during licence application and following changes of control. This assessment focuses on individual persons, such as directors, but the conclusion of the assessment does not constitute an authorisation or some sort of licence. The NGA (merely) establishes it has, at that time, no objection to the individual connected to the licence holder. basis of the lottery’s GGR. 4.10 Personal Licensing
cific requirements including opening hours, location and number of slot machines are determined by the relevant municipality in which the operator has its premises. The existing 13 casinos within the Netherlands are all operated by the state-owned Holland Casino.
6. Online Gambling 6.1 B2C Licences
As indicated in 2.1 Online Gambling , the remote gambling licensing regime allows the offering of most gambling verticals. Subjects that are addressed dur- ing the licensing process include: • the reliability of the applicant (including sharehold- ers and directors); • financial continuity; • the separation of player funds;
• addiction prevention; • consumer protection;
• AML and CFT; • integrity; and • outsourcing.
An important restriction on the use of remote gam- bling licences is the prohibition of anonymous pay- ment instruments. Payment instruments can – in prin- ciple – be used if those instruments have been issued by a bank, payment institution or electronic money institution (EMI) that is licensed in accordance with EU regulations. Furthermore, operators are not permitted to offer lot- tery services remotely on the basis of a remote gam- bling licence. Games in which players can lose more than their stake are also prohibited. Licence holders are permitted to operate multiple brands and/or domain names under one licence. An.nl domain is not required. At the same time, this option is somewhat restrictive given the obligation that the licence holder can only have a single player account per person, per licence.
5. Land-Based Gambling 5.1 Premises Licensing
As explained in 4.3 Types of Licences , a premises licence is required for slot-machine operators. These licences can be awarded by local municipalities. Spe-
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